KDDI R&D Laboratories, research arm of KDDI (a Japanese telcom) and Japan’s National Institute of Information & Communications Technology (NICT) yesterday announced [JP, PDF] the development of the world’s most advanced fiber optic cable.

The companies claim their new cable is able to transmit data around 10 times faster than existing cables (30 terabits per second vs. around 3). In other words, 720 DVDs with two hours of video can be handled within a single second.

The researchers say they were able to transmit data to data points that were 240km away. KDDI aims at commercializing the technology by 2012. One field the cable could be used in is medicine, as it could allow physicians to give instructions on surgeries in distant places in a reliable way.

KDDI also said connecting all major Japanese cities with the new cable would cost around $210 million.